A fabric composed of activated carbon fiber (hereinafter, referred to as an “activated carbon fiber fabric”) is a porous and high adsorptive material which is widely used as a material for air purification and hydrogen storage.
The activated carbon fiber forming the activated carbon fiber fabric may contain microfine pores having a diameter of 1 to 2 nm suitable for air purification and hydrogen storage in at least 90% of an entire area thereof.
The activated carbon fiber fabric may be prepared by subjecting a precursor fabric for an activated carbon fiber fabric to flame-proof treatment, low-temperature carbonization at a temperature of 200 to 350° C. and high-temperature activation at 600 to 1,100° C. in order.
Any conventional method for preparing an activated carbon fiber fabric has been conducted by using a non-woven fabric type precursor fabric as a precursor fabric for the activated carbon fiber fabric (hereinafter referred to as the “precursor fabric”), wherein precursor staples are entangled with each other, and subjecting the same to flame-proof treatment, low-temperature treatment and high-temperature activation, so as to manufacture the activated carbon fiber fabric.
However, in the above-described conventional method, the precursor fabric is composed of staples, and these staples have some drawbacks such as low durability, low crystallinity, non-uniformity, low performance of forming microfine pores having a diameter of 1 to 2 nm, which are useful for hydrogen storage and removal of air pollutants.
In order to improve the problems entailed in the conventional method, an alternative conventional art includes using a fabric type precursor fabric woven with precursor filaments for activated carbon fiber, and subjecting the same to flame-proof treatment, low-temperature carbonization and high-temperature activation, so as to manufacture the activated carbon fiber fabric.
However, the above-described method has some problems of: a difficulty in regulating the weight of fabrics during weaving since the precursor filament forming the precursor fabric has a high weight of 1,000 deniers or more; an increase in manufacturing costs since warping and weaving processes are required; and a reduction in permeability of the precursor fabric due to weaving.